DENVER — How bad, how thoroughly one-sided was it? The crowd at Invesco Field was barely able to muster up a decent booing of their favorite target of derision, Philip Rivers, though he again gave folks ample reason to decry his latest visit.

See, they were too busy bemoaning the battered Broncos.

Of course, Rivers and the Chargers had an awful lot to do with that, administering a certifiable smackdown of Denver in what was supposed to be an epic showdown for sole possession of first place in the AFC West. Instead, the Chargers got the Broncos down early and never really let them up for a 32-3 triumph, the fifth straight win by a Chargers team that began its season 2-3 and the fourth straight loss by a Broncos team that got off to a 6-0 start.

Rivers completed 13 of 14 passes in the first half and kept himself out of Denver’s grasp, the Chargers rushed for 203 yards, Nate Kaeding thwarted Denver with four field goals and safety Steve Gregory recovered two fumbles, one in the end zone. The defense dominated.

In sum, this was a complete contrast to the Chargers’ last loss, a 34-23 beating by the Broncos at Qualcomm Stadium on Oct. 19.

Simply, the Chargers grabbed the division lead by the throat with their most impressive, most convincing victory of the season, leaving much of Denver with a general sense that the Broncos don’t have what it takes to finish a race with the full-throttle Chargers. In the end, Denver seemed physically and emotionally incapable of stopping Chargers fullback Mike Tolbert on his 8-yard touchdown with 34 seconds left.

San Diego’s defense certainly made life miserable for an error-prone Denver offense, especially quarterbacks Chris Simms and Kyle Orton, the former of whom started the game because the latter was unable to go with his serious ankle injury. Orton, though more of a threat, was only three points better.

At first, the Broncos seemed to have the right idea on how to minimize the risk with Simms. Taking the opening kickoff, the Broncos went with seven straight running plays and drove briskly to the Chargers’ 17-yard line, whereupon Simms dropped back for his first pass and had the ball knocked out of his hand on Shaun Phillips’ blind-side sack.

Gregory’s recovery launched the Chargers on a 69-yard drive, including a 21-yard burst by rejuvenated LaDainian Tomlinson and three pass completions by Rivers, the latter a two-yard strike over the middle to Legedu Naanee.

The Chargers led the rest of the way.

Not long into the second quarter, the Chargers found themselves 11 yards short of another touchdown, but eschewed a fourth-and-one try for the sure thing of a Nate Kaeding field goal. That kick was for 28 yards. Next time out, Kaeding was just as clean on a 47-yarder, boosting the Chargers’ lead to 13-0 with 4:19 remaining in the half.

Moments later, though, the immense Broncos crowd was on its feet for the return of Orton to play. With his first three passes, most notably a 38-yard play to Jabar Gafney, Orton had the place going nuts and the Broncos at the Chargers’ four-yard line, but Knowshon Moreno fumbled the ball into the end zone, though it took confirmation by replay to determine it was San Diego ball and not a Denver touchdown.

Undeterred even by Antonio Cromartie’s interception late in the first half, Orton kept the Broncos sparked, driving Denver to another first-anf-goal at the six in the early third quarter. Gregory, who’d recovered Moreno’s fumble in the endzone, broke up a third-down pass at the goal line and the Broncos settled for a 23-yard field goal by Matt Prater.

The Chargers then made Prater’s attempt at an onside kick look silly. The ball was recovered by Naanee at the Denver 41-yard line, and from there, it only took seven plays to score. The doozy was a Rivers pitch to Tomlinson, who tossed it back to Rivers, who found Gates wide open for a completion and 24-yard gain. Tomlinson took it the rest of the way, making it 20-3 and sending many in the crowd of 72,613 to the exits.